Summer is upon us. Big hair, sweat everywhere, the smell of sunscreen and constantly debating if I need a light jacket, ultimately deciding to wear shorts and a jacket. I don’t love the heat. American dream aside, I moved here for to be far away from the tropics but I didn’t account for global warming and now we’re back where I started: sweating.
The one thing I do enjoy about it getting warmer is the energy. After ~2 years of being cooped up, the city is buzzing and everyone has so many ideas for activities. I’ve been trying to say yes to more and more activities which left me with a two month period leading up to Memorial Day including multiple trips up and down the East Coast. I’m so cool and popular, right? For the long weekend, I found myself staring at a big pile of laundry and three whole days of alone time which including multiple hours of television, reading the final Bridgerton book and cooking.
Friday was an easy work day so I started watching the latest episode of The Kardashians to close out the week. Kris and Kylie went to the grocery and it was a big moment for them. I felt seen. While the TV was on in the background, I made Methi Malai Matar for the first time. It was so creamy and green and tasty. There used to be this restaurant by home that served the dish and it used to be my brother’s favorite thing ever and I have to say I came close-ish. Definitely didn’t use nearly enough cream and butter. After a meal like that, I slept 10 hours that night. Couldn’t’ be happier
Woke up late on Saturday (ie 8 am..so old..) and made my self a frothy cup of coffee. My best friend taught me how to make this frothy instant coffee and she may have a tracker on me because as soon as I sat down with coffee and breakfast, she called and we caught up for 2 hours. The coffee is just a spoon of instant coffee and some hot water that I froth with my milk frother but she beats by hand because she is more patient than I. When it gets appropriately frothy, I pour in a little bit of hot milk and voila. She must know me really well because she gave me enough time to take pictures of my steaming coffee and colorful utthappam. That put me comfortably in mid-morning and I felt the need to be productive so I continued watching The Flight Attendant.
After a couple of anxiety riddled hours, I had to take a break to read about Gregory Bridgerton and his love triangle-that-is-secretly-a-square. I’m so used to every show being binge-able these days that it didn’t cross my mind watching that many episodes of The Flight Attendant in a row would fill me with that much anxiety. I guess some shows are better one a week. After a couple of hours of frivolous low stakes romance with minor inconveniences at best, I started to get hungry again. I finally found an Indian store that delivers to me and ordered a 10 pound bag of whole wheat flour. Another learning was that Whole Foods whole wheat flour doesn’t work to make soft chapattis. My mom told me it was obvious that flour in different regions feels and tastes different but I guess it was obvious to everyone but me. (Womp womp). Made myself some soft paneer parathas with that correct flour and was pretty pleased with myself. The parathas relaxed me enough to start another potentially anxiety inducing show – Moon Knight.
I stayed up late (for an at home Saturday night by myself) watching Moon Knight so around midnight, I needed a snack, preferably chocolate-y. I settled on chocolate chip cookies and in my rush, didn’t chill the dough and so they turned into a super spreader event. Nobody’s perfect guys! They tasted great so I guess that’s all that matters. I froze some cookie dough which I baked this weekend for dessert and we solved the spreading issue. Huzzah
I woke up Sunday morning from a dreamless sleep to a break from the alone time with the Monaco grand prix, rooftop pizza and gin mojitos with friends, a New York moment as I gazed fondly at the buildings feeling grateful I get to live here and christening a friend’s new apartment with wine and Chinese takeout. Managed to sneak in an hour long solo couch cuddle in between social events. Winning!
I finished watching Moon Knight on Monday, meal prepped for the rest of the week, finished my love square book, worked out and reset. I went to bed that night, ready and refreshed for the week.
That’s my self-care weekend for you. Eat, sleep, tv, repeat
Vish Eats Delish 